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Postcrossing Blog

Lately, Japanese Gotochi Cards are becoming quite popular and sought after among postcrossers - so we thought it would be fun to tell you a bit more about them here on the blog. Read on!

Gotochi cards are designed and released by the Japanese Postal System, and each one of them represents a place in Japan - hence the name 'gotochi', which means 'local'. They showcase Japanese symbols (which might be local dishes, costumes, monuments, landscapes, etc.) on a national and regional level, in a brightly coloured and fun cartoon.

Gotochi cards have a couple of unique features that make them special. First of all, they are not perfect rectangles, but in fact take on the shape of their picture. Also, each card not only has a cartoon picture on it, but also the name of the place that is depicted in the image. Every prefecture has multiple cards, which might be one of the reasons that collecting them has taken off and became such a popular hobby!

June 2011, I received a bright red, postal box-shaped postcard from Lyo in Japan. Now, I think it may be a Gotochi about which I knew nothing at that time. Just checked: it has been "favourited" 73 times . Fun blog . I am staying loyal but I still think the new logo is a disservice to this site.

I like these cards as much as anyone, but living in Japan, I can tell you why a lot of Japanese Postcrossers don't send them (probably). They're a bit pricey to buy, and cost almost double to send. Among other reasons, I'm sure, but those are mine. As much as I love Postcrossing, it's just too expensive to fill all the requests of people wanting the Gotochi cards. It also feels like they don't even know which card I might offer, they just want one from SOMEONE, which doesn't feel very personal and thus ruins my warm-fuzzies. I had to turn off my swap requests. :

I recently received a Gotochi card, did not know what it was. After checking out on the internet; it was clear that the card, was a real Gotochi card, so I thanked the sender again, :-) She explained me all about the special cards and the prefectures. In the meantime I found out, that I have a traditional Japanese Kokeshi doll myself , did not know that either! So I would love to receive a Gotochi card of the Miyagi one day, but all the Gotochi cards are very special!! : I know now,:-)

I think the ones shaped like postboxes are actually not gotochi cards. Gotochi cards come from each prefecture and depict famous things from that prefecture. The postbox cards are produced everywhere and look the same aside from the name of the post office on the front, I think.

I had an interesting discussion with a Japanese postcrosser who showed me the postal regulations where it is actually not legal to send shaped cards internationally without an envelope. However, I have sent and received them without envelopes without a problem. Postage was 260yen, more than 3x the price of sending a normal postcard. That's in addition to the price of buying the card in the first place.

The postbox-shaped cards are not prefectural but they are made by the same artist and those cards come in seasonal varieties, so many people collect them with the prefecture cards. They have also recently begun producing Birthday cards featuring animals.

It is not legal in Japan to send cards made of anything but paper in Japan without an envelope, so yes, Gotochi cards (made of cardboard) as well as 3-D cards must be sent in envelopes.

Delighted to learn more about Gotochi Cards. They really do look lovely and I would be very happy to see one landing on my doormat someday. What a privilage. I will never ask for them, though, because of the expense to our Japanese Postcrossers. Thank you to the Postcrossing Team for explaining and showing more about these beautiful cards.

I like Gotochi card and I also collect it by myself! Officially it isn't sold on the internet. So I have to go to get it for each prefecture. It's hard but when I get it I feel very happy. :D I'm also happy if I can please someone who wants to get Gotochi card through postcrossing! ;)

Thanks for the information! Actually I'm a big fan of gotochi cards, and I do feel it is really very hard for foreign fans to collect them. I fully understand the postage issue over there, so that I wanna thank every kind-hearted postcrosser who once sent me gotochi cards. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for this information - I had also heard the name but didn't really know what it means. It's also good to know that they are pricey, and interesting that posting is more expensive. It's a bit like our Moomin postcards - but while some of them are more pricey, posting even in an envelope doesn't cost any more than a normal postcard.

As they are so popular, here's an idea for the creative souls among Postcrossers.
Wouldn't it be interesting to try and make a brightly-coloured gotochi-style card with some symbol of our own area or country, wherever we might live? (everybody could send a picture for display on the next issue of the Postcrossing blog)
Also a nice thank-you card if we got one of those very special original Gotochi cards from Japan.
Greetings to all!

I live in Okinawa and hope to swap Gotochi cards with other prefectures. One suggestion for those outside Japan maybe you could offer to swap two postcards for a Gotochi? Some people might be more willing to pay the extra that way.

These cards are great, no wonder they are highly sought after. I have seen that term on profile request lists recently. I would certainly be smiling if I received one!! Thanks for keeping us up to date & informed!

You will all laugh very hard at me but I thought that gotochi was just the Japanese word for Hello Kitty. :lol: Maybe because I saw on a profile that someone collected "Gotochi / Hello Kitty cards" ans I assumed it to be a translation.
Now that I've seen them I find them very cute. I think about asking my Japanese penpal to get me one as it would be unfair to ask for them on Postcrossing because of their postage price.

From the comments above, I think Chinese postcrosser are really amazing. Many of my friends have collected all the (188 or 189 I don't remember exactly)Gotochi cards and postboxes and really lots of people have most of them. The people who finished collecting the Gotochi have started to collect the same Gotochi mini cards and still most of them have both.Many also collected 2 or more the same Gotochi for the trade of the 5th turn of the Gotochi. I'm collecting them too and I hope one day I can collect them all.

And also the Taiwan shaped cards, there are too kinds, most chinese postcrossers have all of 117 Taiwan shaped cards and 24 shaped cards like Gotochi. And now the mainland also start to publish the shaped card, ShangHai, SiChuan, Beijing, many postcard companies, and they are just not assemble, but some of them are as amazing as Gotochi

I recently put these into my preference list and I received a couple of amazing ones :) Someone told me these are cheaper to send in an envelope than naked. Always appreciate to get them after it is more expensive to send them.